


Artoo's Person

by BaronVonChop



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-10
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-07-10 16:44:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15953420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BaronVonChop/pseuds/BaronVonChop
Summary: Artoo is very proud of Luke. The other droids are curious to find out more!Droid fluff.





	Artoo's Person

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my wonderful beta reader for helping with this story! Any remaining mistakes are my own.

After Artoo and Luke destroyed the Death Star, the Rebel Alliance fled the base on Yavin to avoid the Empire. The fleet had been traveling for months since then, looking for a new base. Artoo still flew with Luke on scouting missions to find new locations for a base, but when he was back with the fleet, he joined the mismatched collection of droids who kept the fleet from falling apart.

Many of the fleet's ships had been converted from civilian vessels, and others had been in service for decades or longer. With no opportunity to land on a planet or dock with a space station for repairs, the ships required constant maintenance. A large portion of that work fell to the droids, and Artoo rose to the challenge. Droids could operate where organics could not, and Artoo could never pass up an opportunity to show off.

Patching up ships mid-flight was demanding work, and soon it took a toll on the droids. Dents, scrapes, and strained servomotors could normally be patched up in minutes, but with so many engineers busy working on the ships, there were few resources available to keep the droids in good repair.

Droids working in close proximity to each other would inevitably swap news, gossip, and tall tales, and the droids working on the Rebel ships were no exception. As time went on and the strain began to toll on the droids, the lighthearted swapping of tales gradually gave way to griping, then complaining, then full-on lamentation of their tedious work and poor maintenance.

The approaches to complaining differed from droid to droid, and each droid on Artoo's maintenance crew had a unique style. A crimson astromech droid with a conical head enjoyed long, flowery monologues about all machines' inevitable slide into disrepair. A blocky brown load lifter grumbled endlessly about dings, speculating about which parts of her would be dinged next. A grayish-white droid with many spidery limbs described in great detail the pain and suffering that organics would face if they had to do the same tasks they regularly expected of droids.

Artoo joined his fellow droids in complaining about the deterioration of the ships, the lack of replacement parts, and the uncomfortable conditions. Artoo had already built up something of a reputation for his colorful vocabulary, so the other droids paid close attention to everything he said and passed it back and forth, admiring his choice turns of phrase and biting wit.

For all of Artoo's complaining, he never brought up the long wait for maintenance, or his own physical decline from the demands of the work. It certainly was not for a lack of effort or daring, for the silver-and-blue astromech worked as hard as any other droid. When the other droids realized this puzzling situation, they put their heads together, and none of them remembered ever seeing Artoo in the droid maintenance bay during the few available opportunities when an engineer could see to them.

Artoo explained with delight that he did not need the help of the maintenance crew, because he had his own person who did his maintenance. While Artoo normally described everyone, droid and organic alike, with playful insults and snide comments, he had nothing negative to say about this young human from Tatooine. The droids gathered around to listen as Artoo described how the human not only repaired Artoo's systems, he even took the time to clean Artoo. Artoo saved the biggest revelation for last: the human who had the time, skill, and inclination to do all this work was none other than Artoo's pilot, the same Luke Skywalker who had flown Artoo's fighter when he had taken down the Death Star.

Once the word was out, the other droids started to follow Artoo around in their spare time, or they would bump into him seemingly by accident while rolling around the ship's bays and corridors. When they eventually crossed paths with Luke, he smiled, crouched down, and introduced himself, which charmed the droids. Artoo twittered and blinked the lights on his dome, pleased that the other droids could witness for themselves the special person who flew with Artoo.

Over the course of the next few work sessions, the droids swapped stories about Luke. No organic had ever crouched to the astromech's height while talking before. The load lifter described how Luke had laid a gentle hand on her battered chassis while talking to her, making her forget the dings just for a moment. The spidery droid had never known an organic to ask their name instead of demanding their service number. Names and numbers may have been the same for droids, but the word choice counted.

Artoo loved the attention that he and Luke received from the other droids. Artoo never passed up an opportunity to bring up Luke with the other droids, then bask in their praise and admiration. After all, Artoo had found Luke, recruited him into the Rebellion, and then ensured his safe arrival to the Rebel base, so everything Luke did reflected on Artoo.

Luke always had a kind word and a friendly smile for the droids, and if he thought it odd that he bumped into the same droids over and over again, he never said anything. He would often tell Artoo about how his day went, especially when the two of them had tasks that took them to different parts of the ship, or even different vessels in the fleet. He occasionally mentioned encountering the other droids while Artoo worked elsewhere. Artoo found himself hoping for more details about what exactly went on during these meetings, and how much time they spent with Luke before they got back to work. After all, Luke had important tasks to attend to, and weren't those droids supposed to be busy with their own duties?

Still, it was nice to walk into a conversation between the other droids and hear that they were talking about Luke. That always made Artoo feel good, except on a couple of occasions when Artoo had been fairly sure that the other droids had been discussing Luke but switched to another topic once Artoo arrived. Artoo felt less good about that.

One afternoon, Artoo and the load lifter were reinforcing the hangar doors when Luke came over from working on his X-Wing. They greeted each other and Luke complimented their work, praising Artoo's neat welds and the load lifter's evenly-spaced rivets. Artoo was not sure what was so great about evenly spacing rivets, since welding was much more difficult, but he was glad Luke had complimented him first.

As Luke started to turn back to his starfighter, he noticed that the load lifter's right arm wobbled when she walked. He invited her to come over to his workstation. Luke had his own toolbox and workbench by his X-Wing, which he had found unused in storage. Nobody had wanted the somewhat obsolete tools, but the Rebellion could not afford to throw anything potentially useful away. The tools were very similar to the ones Luke had used on his Uncle Owen's farm, and the engineers had not objected to Luke's offer to put the tools to good use.

Artoo decided that he did not care one way or the other whether Luke took a look at the load lifter's arm. Artoo had more important things to do, like completing his weld. He tuned out the sound of Luke soothing the droid and explaining how the joint was stressed. Artoo paid more attention to his work than to the quiet reassurances Luke gave the droid while his tools quietly clinked, tapped, and ratcheted. Completing the weld was more important than listening to Luke ask the droid if that seemed better now, and Artoo felt satisfied when his job was done regardless of the joy in Luke's voice at the load lifter's happiness at her newly repaired limb.

Luke called over to Artoo to check on his progress. Artoo told him in a long series of indignant squawks and boops that everything was great, just wonderful, and the weld was complete, of course, because Artoo always did an excellent job, thanks for asking.

It was only then that Artoo noticed how wobbly the latter half of his weld looked, to the point where, at the end, it was not even on the seam at all. He spun around and rolled out of the hangar as quickly as he could, not glancing over at Luke or the load lifter.

Starting the next day, Artoo stopped bringing up Luke to the other droids, and if one of them started talking about Luke, Artoo cut them off to list all of the many things keeping Luke busy. When Artoo was not working on tasks, he followed Luke around, monitoring for the other droids. If he noticed one approaching, he rolled as fast as he could to intercept them, butting them with his chassis until they turned away.

After Artoo knocked the crimson astromech droid over and shoved it down a corridor on its back, Luke took Artoo aside and asked him what was wrong. Artoo whistled and chirped, explaining with perhaps more vehemence than was necessary that the other droids were wasting Luke's time and taking advantage of his kind and generous nature.

Luke sighed, a gesture that somehow always reminded Artoo of Threepio, though more endearing. Luke explained that he was happy to help the other droids. Working on mechanical issues, whether with droids or spaceships, helped Luke take his mind off of the missions he was flying and the looming threat of the Empire. Something about that clicked with Artoo. He understood what Luke meant, and it reminded him of something from deep within his memory storage.

Before Artoo could access the archived memory, Luke asked Artoo if it was all right if he continued helping the other droids when he could. Artoo hesitated, and Luke smiled, promising that if Artoo was also in need of maintenance or repairs, Luke would see to him first. Artoo processed this offer, then beeped his acceptance.

The next day, as the droids gathered around a damaged conduit, Artoo magnanimously announced his decision: he would allow the other droids access to Luke, on one condition: they had to remember that Luke was Artoo's person.


End file.
